Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1) 

 

I’ve been quick to judge anyone I saw walking in the street while staring at a phone. How could they be so oblivious to the cars about to hit them? I’ve told myself. Don’t they care about their own safety? But one day, while crossing the entrance to an alleyway, I was so engrossed in a text message, that I missed seeing a car at my left. Thankfully, the driver saw me and came to an abrupt stop. But I felt ashamed. All of my self-righteous finger-pointing came back to haunt me. I had judged others, only to do the same thing myself. 

 

My hypocrisy is the kind of thinking that Jesus addressed in the Sermon on the Mount: “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). I had a huge “beam”—a blind spot through which I judged others with my own impaired judgment. 

 

“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again,” Jesus also said (7:2). Recalling the disgusted look on the driver’s face that day, after having to make an abrupt stop when I walked in front of the car, I’m reminded of the disgusted looks I gave others engrossed in their phones. 

 

None of us is perfect. But sometimes I forget that in my haste to judge others. We’re all in need of God’s grace. 

 

Heavenly Father, please help me be quicker to console or encourage, and slower to judge someone else. Amen.  

 

When I read this devotion one word came to mind, guilty. I needed this reminder. If we would just stop for a moment and take a step back and honestly evaluated our actions from time to time we would see that we are all guilty of this. Today, challenge yourself to be slow to judge others. 

 

Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord! 

 

Today’s Reading is Romans 13:10